July 2011 Mix

Busy month, mostly spent hot and not working. I guess music-wise, the highlight was going to the Pitchfork Music Festival. But then I realized there weren’t many bands there that had me really excited. G-Side was cool. Tune-yards sounded great. Kurt Vile provided a nice soundtrack for laying down in the afternoon shade. And TV on the Radio were probably extremely good, but my old ass was mostly too exhausted to really care by then. I think the main takeaway is that A) I’m getting too old for outdoor summer festivals, and B) I’m way more excited for Raleigh’s Hopscotch Music Festival coming up here in September.

Meanwhile, there were some good albums

Cults – Cults: I’d put “Abducted”, “Go Outside” and “You Know What I Mean” against the first three songs of just about any album I’ve ever heard. Great way to open an album.

Thee Oh Sees – Castlemania: Every time I hear a new Thee Oh Sees album (whichisoften…they’reprolific fuckers), it takes me a few listens for me to move from “this is annoying” to “this is awesome.” If they ain’t your cup of tea, I understand.

6) CyHi Da Prynce (feat. Yelawolf & La Roux) – Bulletproof
I don’t care much for CyHi, but anybody can sound good over this beat. Yelawolf ain’t just anybody. He sounds incredible over this beat. Also, Yelawolf will be at Hopscotch.

7) Cocaine 80s – Anywhere But Here
At first, I thought the Common song would be the representative from the Cocaine 80s EP to make it to this month’s mix. But over the course of the month, this James Fauntleroy song really grew on me. And I don’t normally dig on R&B.

8) Cults – You Know What I Mean
This will be the score to some dramatic movie or TV show by the end of the year. That chorus can’t be denied.

17) Nas – Nasty
Nas is bringing back that Nasty Nas! Or so we’ve been told via just about every one of his post-Illmatic’s albums “street singles.” Not getting my hopes up, even though this is undeniably dope.